


warm woolen mittens (these are a few of my favorite things)

by lesbiantoddhoward



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: ADHD Luz Noceda, Autistic Amity Blight, F/F, but they are based off my/my friend's experiences, i don't state that either are autistic/adhd explicitly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:00:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25960222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lesbiantoddhoward/pseuds/lesbiantoddhoward
Summary: The problem with reconnecting with your former best friend is that they tend to remember many of your most embarrassing moments. Moments you would rather not relive in front of your crush.However, the real danger is in combining that with twin siblings who revel in old, childish nicknames.ORLuz begins calling Amity by her childhood nickname, and Amity's not sure her gay heart can take it.
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda
Comments: 103
Kudos: 1684





	1. social

**Author's Note:**

> just a few things to note!
> 
> 1\. spoilers for Wing it Like Witches
> 
> 2\. i'm saying that witches' ears like. move when they get emotional. that's 100% not canon, but i think it is absolutely adorable, sooooooo we're gonna vibe with it.

A Blight is supposed to possess knowledge supreme over all fields. Magical knowledge was a given, of course, but a powerful witch does not make a powerful socialite: The Owl Lady was proof of that. No, what separated a Blight from an Owl Lady, aside from a million snail bounty, was an equally impressive social understanding. Whose family’s heir is currently ‘squandering their potential?’ Who said what about Rinoya’s Demon-Eye Casserole? Where is there a potential opening in the tapestry market? Weaving in and out of different social worlds should come as naturally as bending magic.

Through all her hard work, Amity had managed to obtain an excellent level of magical knowledge for her age. Her social understanding, however?

Well, one only need look at her cast and crutch to understand her level of cunning when it came to emotions and people. Sure, she was popular, and yes, she was certainly feared for a time. But that came with the family name. The truth was, Amity Blight was facing something as simple and juvenile as a crush (on a _human_ , of all things), and was stumbling.

Hard.

No one knew, luckily. But that’s about where Amity’s luck stopped when it came to Luz. Her latest misadventure with her crush had left her leg injured and her book bag ‘mysteriously’ burnt to ash after Boscha had stormed off from the Grudgby pitch. And after a furious scolding from Father the night before, Edric and Emira’s offer to take her shopping for a new bag seemed like just a way to lift her spirits. At first, it had! The Bag-O-Porium had a new shipment of faux-Groilgrog skin bags _and_ had provided a 'Blight family discount.' Things were looking up!

But then, the twins found some new, shimmery, translucent purse and began arguing over who should be allowed to buy it. This had gone on for nearly 30 minutes before Amity left with a sigh and hobbled her way outside for some fresh air. Her siblings could argue like this for hours. At least this way she could have some peace and relative quie—

“Amity!! Hey! Over here! It’s me, Luz!”

The witch looked over to see Luz, Willow, and Gus sitting on a bench outside of a neighboring café. Luz kicked her feet with reckless abandon, to the point Amity was surprised no passerby had gotten a shoe to the stomach. She waved her arm equally wildly while shouting for Amity’s attention, despite only being a few feet away and both having made eye contact. Luz’s face shone with the same brightness it always did, the intensity of her smile making it hard for the green-haired witch to think of anything other than how cute the human was.

Immediately, Amity felt the same social graces that led to the current state of her leg take control. “Luz!” she started, “You’re shopping! I’m shopping! Or, well, you’re eating, I think? Bonesborough sure is a wacky place!” She swung her non-crutch arm, trying to at least get a chuckle out of the human. Looking up at her, it seemed to have worked, surprisingly. That was yet another thing she lov— _liked_ about Luz. She always humored even Amity’s dorkiest impulses, that most others would have ignored at best or mocked at worst. That, alongside her adorable short hair, round little ears, her willingness to help, her upbeat attitude, love for Azura, her—

Oh Gods, she was spiraling again. Clearing her throat, Amity limped closer. She lowered her gaze, hoping her blush would at least be somewhat hidden. It was uncharacteristic for a Blight to hide like that, but what Mother and Father didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them. She _really_ needed to get this whole ‘feelings’ thing under control, though. “Wait, what _are_ you three doing here in Bonesborough? Weren’t you going camping today?”

Luz shook her head as her expression soured. “Actually, I’m delivering some potions for Eda. Blegh!” She stuck her tongue out and blew a ‘raspberry,’ something Amity still didn’t fully understand the point of. The delivery satchel sitting in the human’s lap slipped, only being saved by Willow’s attentive hand. Judging by the non-reaction of the others, this was not the first time this had happened. “She hadn’t asked me to do it for a while, but with no school today I guess she decided I had the time. Anyways, Gus and Willow decided to roll with me!” She wrapped her arms around the two, pulling them closer. Spotting the confusion on everyone’s face, Luz clarified, “That’s a, uh, human way to say we’re hanging out. You guys say that, right?” The human began rambling about….something related to slang.

Ignoring the jealous pang in her chest, Amity shot a brief and bashful smile at the two fellow witches. Willow seemed to be looking her up and down for some reason. Was she mad at her about something? Well, something _besides_ her years as a bully. Because this was a pointedly different look than she had seen while in Willow’s mind. But looking at Luz’s eager smile shoved all other worries away. That smile quickly morphed into worry, however.

“Wait, shouldn’t you still be at home resting?” Her eyebrow raised at the end of her sentence as if to punctuate the question, in a way that Amity certainly didn’t find absolutely adorable. Nope, not at all. “The healer said your bone was, like, shattered!” Luz questioned, for some reason mimicking an explosion sound.

Amity smiled at the human’s antics before answering. “Oh, what? Pfft! No, I’m fine!” she began, before remembering the crutch she leaned against. She waved her free hand in front of her, “I mean, I’m not _fine_ , seeing as my leg is broken.” She said, gesturing towards her cast (which Luz had insisted on signing, for some reason? Humans were strange.) “But, uh, my siblings took me out shopping for a new bag! But then they saw some fancy ba--,”

“Hey, Mittens! Turns out they had a second—ohhh, hey Luz! And friends! What a surprise.” Speak of the demon. Edric craned his head around looking for his younger sister as he (surprisingly gently, for her brother) shut the door to the Bag-O-Porium behind him. Spotting Amity, he sauntered over to the bench as if to rub his knowledge of her crush in her face.

The youngest Blight’s face flushed red, although she wasn’t certain whether it was a blush, or a desire to strangle her older brother. She flipped her head back at him, shooting daggers his way. How many times had she told him and Emira not to call her that? _Especially_ out in public? And judging by the smug way he said the second half of his sentence, he certainly remembered her hours spent coming up with that Grom note. Gods, could she not get _one_ break?

Her emotional turmoil was short lived, however, by Willow’s cooing. “Awww! I had no idea they still used that old nickname for you!”

Amity felt her heart sink. Ah, right. The risk of old friends. They remember only the best ways to torment you! Willow began to open her mouth, likely to reminisce on some incredibly embarrassing story that Amity certainly did not want to relive. She rushed to interrupt the plant witch. “What? No! No, uh, he, just said that because you’re here!” she said, waving her hands wildly, nearly dropping her crutch in the process. She shot a pleading look back at her brother, whose smirk remained firm. Before she could see whether her prayers were answered, however, she was reminded that, oh no. _Someone_ there already knew her nickname. The one someone she _really didn’t want to hear about it_.

“What do you mean, _Mittens_?” Luz’s voice dripped with a knowing tease. She sounded awfully sure of herself for a human who had almost shattered an entire shipment of unknown alchemy. Amity slowly turned to face the object of her affections; her eyebrows turned up and a smirk equal to Edric’s plastered on the human’s face. If it wasn’t her social livelihood at stake, Amity probably would have found it cute. But she would have to instead label it ‘adorably infuriating.’ “I was there at the library! They call you it all the time. Besides, it’s a cute name! Perfect for a cute witch like you!” Luz reached out a finger and poked the witch’s nose with a small, “ _Boop!_ ”

A very un-Blight-like squeak escaped Amity and she was certain her face was redder than apple blood. She reached for her ears, hoping to hide their wiggling. She wasn’t certain if Luz even knew witch's ears _did_ that, but she wasn’t willing to risk it. She waved her hand behind her back at her brother, shouting some rushed excuse that she’ll meet up with him at home. Edric laughed and began to walk away, but not before twisting the knife further. “Bye, Mittens~!”

Willow, meanwhile, seems to be looking at her with yet _another_ smirk. _Why_ are so many people smug today?! Before Amity could think to even form a sentence on….any of what Luz said, an older gnome fellow walks out of the café. “Are you Luz, uh…Noceda?” He says, deadpan, while reading off a slip. “With the potion shipment?”

“Yuuup!” Luz said, letting the ‘p’ pop. She pulled a parcel out, which quickly doubled in size from its compressed state in the satchel. She set it down gently next to the man. “There ya go—” Luz looked down, noticing the man’s unamused face next to a package triple his height. “Uh, why don’t I help you out?” She said, laughing nervously.

He nodded, his face remaining dry and emotionless. Luz picked up the package, smiling at her friends before carrying it into the shop. Amity turned her attention towards Gus and Willow, purposefully ignoring her pesky brain reminding her of when Luz had carried _her_ like that. An awkward silence drifted over the three remaining outside.

“Soooo…” Gus said, “that Grudgby game was intense, huh—”

“Hold on, Gus.” Willow interrupted. “I wanna ask Amity something.” She walked up to her former best friend, eyeing her up and down with an intensity that made the Blight shiver. It felt far too reminiscent of Willow’s inner self. Of course, that had been well earned, but still. Seeing it again was not a welcome experience.

“Willow? What are you doi—”

“Do you have a crush on Luz?”

Oh _Gods_. Oh Gods oh Gods oh _GODS_. This was it. This was how Amity Blight would die! Her good leg just about gave out as she narrowly kept a grip on her crutch. This was not good! In fact, it was perhaps the furthest thing from good! Play dumb, Amity, play dumb. She gaped, leaning against the brick wall behind her. “What? Wha—no! What? Why would you think that? Did someone tell you?” She waved her hand dismissively in front of her while sliding further away, nearly tripping over her own feet. “I don’t, pfft, I don’t even _like_ Luz! She’s, like, a human!”

Willow’s smile beamed as she easily made up the distance Amity had put between them. She dragged the Blight to sit on the same bench. Amity was certain it was the happiest she had seen the witch in years, which would have been great…if only it wasn’t at her expense. “You totally do! That’s so cute!” She squealed, pointing a finger at Amity’s face, giggling. “You’re so pink!”

Gus nodded, slamming his fist onto his palm. It was a gesture he had picked from Luz, for sure. “Ohhhh! Yeah, no that makes a lot of sense. You were acting _really_ weird about Luz and the game yesterday.”

“Oh, and that explains why she was blushing so much when she and Luz were fixing up my memories!” Willow added. “Oh my stars, and _Grom_! Oh wow, Amity. I can’t believe how cute you’re being about this! I thought the Blight grumpiness had consumed you,” she paused, putting her finger to her chin and pouring over her own words, “Uhm, no offense.”

“I, uhm, the, you don’t, I mean…” Amity stuttered, struggling to form even one coherent sentence. She knew she had it bad, but she didn’t think anyone would have clocked her feelings yet. Well, aside from the twins, but they seem to have a knack for knowing everything about her. She sighed, surrendering herself to her fate. They were just as stubborn as Luz, and if they had put all that together, trying to hide it any further would be pointless. “I might, uh, have some feelings for her,” she whispered, “like…a crush.”

Willow’s sudden side-hug both surprised her and nearly toppled her over. “You _have_ to let us help you, Amity! I mean, with how much you two love those books, and both care about magic! You’d be adorable.” She gestured wildly at…some abstract thing. Truthfully, Amity had no clue what it was supposed to mean. A stray illusion of shooting stars and a small heart—likely from Gus, given the magic circle fading from his fingers—didn’t manage to clear anything up.

“No!” Amity said, a bit more aggressively than she meant to. She pulled herself from the hug as Willow recoiled at her voice, “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it like that,“ groaning, Amity exhaled, placing her hands in her lap. “It’s really nice of you guys to offer to help, especially how I’ve treated you both. I just…look, I’m not even really sure if she _likes_ me. Like that, I mean. Please don’t tell anyone? If my parents found out…” Willow took Amity’s hand, covering them with her own ( _which, wow, were surprisingly strong_ , a voice in Amity’s head said)

“It’s…okay, Amity. I get it,” Willow said, “I know how they can be.” Still, the way her shoulders sagged a little lower and her smile wasn’t quite as bright did not go unnoticed by the green-haired witch.

“Thank you, guys.” Amity breathed a sigh of relief, tucking a few loose strands of hair behind her ears. “Y’know, I—”

A sudden shout followed by a door slamming interrupted any thought Amity had tried to find. “Mittens, where in the Boiling Isles is our snaggleback-ed brother?” Emira said, through gritted teeth. Amity hadn’t seen her this enraged in ages.

“Uh, he said that he had bought the second bag and left.”

“The _SECOND_ bag, huh?” The elder Blight sister punched the brick wall. Terrifyingly, she did not react in the slightest. “Come on, dear sister. I’ve got a brother to strangle.” She practically yanked Amity off the bench, heading off in the direction of Blight Manor and dragging her sister behind her. “That illusion using sneaky…GODS, I’m going to kill him!”

Amity shot a look back at the two, giving them an awkward smile as they waved good-bye. Their amusement at her sudden departure was apparent, despite any attempt on their part to hide it.

Well, that certainly wasn’t how she _wanted_ today to go, and it was two more people who knew about her crush than she wished for, but it could have gone worse. At least Willow seemed to want to be her friend again? And Gus…well, she didn’t really know him that well yet. But she got to see Luz! So overall, a solid B-to-B+ of a day. Not good enough for Father’s standards, but Father could eat a Crab Apple. Yup! Things were oka--

“BYE, MITTENS!” Luz shouted, peeking her head out of the café. Her smile was just so _bright!_

It took all of Amity’s willpower to not trip over the cobblestone streets, ripping her head from Luz to face forwards. She groaned as she felt her face grow flush again, for what was likely the millionth time today. She _really_ needed to convince her siblings (or, perhaps, soon-to-be sibling, singular) to not call her that outside of the manor.

_ (and she really hoped that Luz calling her…. that name would eventually stop making her stomach do flips.) _


	2. typical

The early hours before school were typically a good time for Amity. This was, partially, to be expected. Hexside was a social battlefield, one where most were too young or too frightened to question the authority of a Blight, of course. When she was a part of Boscha’s clique, it (typically) meant terrorizing whoever dared to walk in their vicinity. More recently, it had (typically) meant seeing Luz for a last-minute discussion or re-enactment of whichever _Azura_ book they were re-reading, and even more recently, it sometimes entailed catching up for lost time with Willow—something that would hopefully grow to be more typical with time. 

Regardless, Amity’s morning—typically—was happy. It set the tone for her day to follow, after all. A good day at Hexside led to a good year at Hexside, which, skipping a few steps for the sake of time, would lead to a position with the Emperor’s Coven.

All fairly typical expectations for a Blight, truthfully.

What was _not_ typical was the lone tall hedge, jutting out from the other greenery, disrupting Amity’s morning aspirational dreaming. And it was downright atypical for a hand to reach out of the bush, grab her by the hood, and yank her into the leaves.

Although, finding the hand belonged to Willow made the situation somewhat less unusual. These days, where Willow was involved, Luz was usually not far behind, and the human’s weirdness tended to follow shortly after that. Amity wasn’t quite sure what she expected. Her notions of ‘typical mornings’ were more of a wish than a reality, at this point.

Still, the girl in front of her looked off, even for some of the antics they had recently gotten into. Willow was far more athletic than she may appear to some, and yet she was hunched over, panting, with her hands on her knees. Her typically well-kept hair was frazzled, her glasses askew, and she was sweating even more than she had after their Grudgby match. Concern couldn't help but sprout in Amity's chest. “Willow? What’s going on? Is everything okay?”

Her concern was met with a hand over her mouth, the shorter girl looking her dead in the eyes. “Shh! I had to…” Willow paused, catching her breath, once again keeling over, “…warn you. Stars, I’m exhausted.” Hearing someone calling her name outside the bush, she let out a small yelp and crouched down, pulling Amity by her shoulders alongside her. “She’s here! We don’t have much time. How did she get here that quickly!? Okay—and please, don’t kill me, or him, um—Gus kind of almosttoldLuzyoulikeher,” 

For a second, Amity’s heart stopped, the only thing keeping her from passing out being Willow giving her hands a strong squeeze. Looking up, the other witch had her eyes firmly shut, but still looked away, and….was she shaking? “I know! I’m sorry! And I’m sorry I started this whole thing with bringing up Mittens, but, before you get mad, I stopped him! And it was an accident! Gus is just… bad at secrets. Very bad! But he kind of panicked and instead told her tha—”

Suddenly, the hedge rustled and sunlight flooded down onto the two witches, leaving only Amity’s deepest anxieties to fill in the blank. Time itself seemed to slow down as she raised a hand, attempting to shield herself from the influx of light. She attempted to scoot away from the intruder, before being reminded of her leg and toppling onto her back with a small scream. In that split second, Willow was already standing and backing out of the bush. She mouthed a quick _sorry_ , something Luz hopefully hadn’t noticed.

Gods, Amity should have _known_ letting anyone else know about her crush was a bad idea! It wasn’t like she _meant_ to tell them! But she could have denied harder, or maybe, I don’t know, made them take an oath of silence? Wiped their memories? Okay, not that last one, she already did that once on semi-accident and felt horrible about it. But what did Luz know? What was happening?

“Whatcha doin’ down there, _Mittens_?” 

_ What? _

Moving her hand from between the sun and her face, she found Luz bent over above her. Immediately, she felt the pesky blush and that tightness in her bile sac that had haunted her since before Grom, compounded by what she _swore_ she heard Luz just call her. Not to mention the fact that the sun from this angle was the perfect lighting to highlight Luz’s features. The way it reflected off her dark brown eyes….it was gorgeous. Just like the lighting in Hexside, or the Owl House, or Willow’s mind, or…well, anywhere, really.

Wait, how long had she been staring up at Luz? Was her mouth still open?

Luckily, Willow stepped in to play Amity’s savior. “I was asking her to, uhm, help me with my plant magic! Abomination goo is an experimental fertilizer?” Her voice raised at the end, but Luz nodded all the same. Exhaling, Willow released the tension in her shoulders. She turned and gave the green-haired a short-lived sympathetic glance, snapping her head back forward with perhaps the fakest smile Amity had ever seen. “I better get to class, though! Greenhouse is all the way across Hexside, y’know! Bye Luz! Bye Amity!” 

“Huh. She sure seemed cheerful,” Luz said, watching her friend sprint into the building. Evidently, the human hadn't noticed a thing. Amity cleared her throat, reminding the human who she had been looking for, as she returned her attention to the Blight girl. “So, what’s up, Am— _Mittens_ ,” Luz stopped herself, looking down, and realizing the other girl in front of her was still more-or-less collapsed on the ground. “Oh God, where’s your crutch!? Here! Let me help you up, my liege,” she gave an overdramatic bow, leaving a hand outstretched for the witch.

“Thank you, Luz,” Amity squeaked out. She grabbed onto her 'noble protector' with only some hesitation, attempting to ignore what she _must_ have misheard. Twice. She should probably get her hearing checked later because there was no way she was hearing what she thought she heard. Luz wouldn’t still be clinging onto a joke from like, two days ago, would she? Because that would be ridiculous and her heart should _REALLY_ slow down right about now.

However, there was a more present problem, as the witch began to wobble on her one leg. Instead of falling, she wrapped her arm around the human’s shoulder for support, pulling her into a bit of an awkward side-hug— _Gods, what?_

Double-checking to make sure that her head was still attached, Amity found that, yes, she was nuzzled up again Luz, while the human attempted to reach for the fallen crutch. Amity was certain her face was magma at this point. Even the boiling rains would melt upon hitting her, Amity, the walking disaster! They were just _so close_ , all on top of the rollercoaster of emotions her ‘fearless champion’ had just put her through. Pfft, if she could only know how much fear she herself was causing her. 

“Woah, you're warm!” Luz said, letting out a small _aha!_ as she grabbed the crutch. Slowly, the two unraveled from each other, leaving Amity with an odd mixture of relief and disappointment. That was a future problem, though, one for her diary to sort out. Back on her own two feet, she looked over Luz, the human bouncing on her feet with excitement and a worrying smile on her face. “I guess that's why they call you Mittens, huh?” She said, waving her eyebrows, her smile twitching with pride. “Because, you’re all warm. Get it?"

Oh.

So it hadn’t been her imagination. Luz, her crush, had called her Mittens. Again. At Hexside. The school they both went to. Luz, the human! Amity felt her knees turn to trash slug jelly, her face some unholy shade of red as she burst into a fit of giggles.

__

_ Giggles.  _ A Blight doesn’t _giggle!_ And yet, here she was. Like some sort of schoolgirl with a crush—which, upon thinking it through, she was. But even if she technically was exactly that, _Amity Blight does not giggle,_ regardless of her status as a student or a girl.

Attempting to regain at least some composure, Amity took a deep breath in, hoping she was returning to at least a paler shade of blush. At last, she managed to get out, “You’re… _I’m_ Mittens?” She practically whispered it, far quieter then she had intended. Hopefully, it came out in a pitch low enough to still be discernable by humans.

Luz snickers, pointing at her still far-too-red face, “Yeah, you _are_ Mittens! C’mon! It’s an abomination track day for me today, so you’re gonna be stuck with me like…uhh," she paused, scratching her head in thought. "I don’t know, I was kind of hoping I’d come up with a metaphor.” The human flushed, seemingly embarrassed by her lack of wit. But the moment passed quickly, her distinct confidence returning to her face. Wrapping her hand in with Amity’s, Luz began leading her towards class, far more gentle than Willow's earlier pull had been.

The typically distinct and busy halls of the school quickly faded into the background, the only thought on Amity’s mind being _Luz, Luz, Luz, Luz_ , the only sound the blood rushing through her ears. She threw her hood up as soon as they entered the building, hopefully masking her ears from any onlookers. Her crush may not know the significance of her ears twitching the way they were, but her classmates certainly did. The last thing she needed was her parents to hear about this.

That was about the last coherent action she could manage.

The rest of their trek towards class was full of laughter and conversation Amity could never recall if she tried, too distracted by her racing mind. She wasn’t quite sure how this girl had managed to do this to her. If she was a bit more naïve, she almost would have thought Luz had cast a love spell or something.

But Amity knew these feelings were her own. The way she couldn’t breathe, couldn’t even think around the human were not because of any magic, outside of the magic of love. 

Bleh. She mentally cringed at herself for thinking something so cheesy, so sappy! …even if some part of her, somewhere, might have considered it just the slightest bit romantic to label it such. But just, like, a teeny bit.

It was the way Luz was so passionate, so free of worry about what others thought of her, but still so understanding of why others _do_ care. It was the way she didn’t judge, like just about every other person in Amity’s life did. She didn’t mock her interests, didn’t force her to abandon friends. She did just the opposite; she _embraced_ these aspects of Amity.

Even now, when Luz used the name Mittens, it felt _different_. She was probably teasing her, yes, but it lacked the edge that Boscha’s teasing had when her ‘friend’ had found an Azura book in her bag, or even the cruelty Amity herself had thrown at Willow. It was…friendly. Maybe that was normal, but it was alien to a Blight. Though, what wasn’t about Luz?

“Mittens? Isles to Mittens? Are you okay? You look…really red. Are you sick? Because if you're sick, I know, like, the best recipe for chicken noodle soup. Do you guys have chickens--never mind, that's beside the point. Are you okay?”

Luz’s voice snapped her back to reality. The human girl was staring back at her, her eyebrows knitted and lips pouted in concern. Packing away the thoughts of _she looks so pretty_ and _aww, she’s worried about me?_ , Amity shook her head. “Yes! Allllll good! Just the, uh, circulation. My leg, I mean. Mittens.” She inhales, attempting to call upon all two shreds of dignity she had left, “It’s the cast. It…cuts off circulation and makes me all red.”

Looking upwards, anywhere away from Luz’s eyes, Amity recognized they were standing outside their ‘Fundamentals of Abomination Goo Formation’ class. “Uh, Luz. What’s going on? Like, with…,” she paused, dropping her voice to a whisper, “calling me ‘Mittens’ and everything?”

Luz provided no meaningful answer, and instead clicked her tongue, shooting her iconic ‘finger guns.’ She then began walking backwards, not breaking eye contact, missed the door, and bumped into the stone wall behind her. The small look of surprise on her face vanished quickly, as the human turned around, realized her mistake, mumbled out an _aw man,_ and realigned herself, this time managing to make it into class.

Amity groaned, wondering how Luz had possibly managed to make…whatever that was charming. The final warning scream rang out, interrupting any potential for further questioning. Professor M’aiq was infamously strict on tardies and talking in class, and Amity was not eager to begin breaking her perfect attendance record here. 

Hopefully, the rest of the morning would be a bit more…typical. Luz may have won this battle, but she would _not_ win the war!

Hopefully.


	3. signs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, fun fact, this was supposed to be 2 chapters + an epilogue, buuut i got so excited w the idea and din't wanna stop. so now i'm splitting what was supposed to be the final full chapter into two separate chapters, with an additional epilogue to boot!
> 
> luckily for y'all, i realized this while writing the second half of what was originally the final chapter! i just decided for pacing reasons it made sense to separate these, so i polished the first half and published it. as such, the "really-for-serious-this-is-the-final-chapter-i-promise" final chapter will be out tomorrow! or else! 
> 
> there will also still be a "fifth" chapter that's a shorter epilogue. so basically, one more normal sized chapter, and one shorter one to go!

Many witches at Hexside believed that Luz was dumb or incompetent. This was something that infuriated Amity on a good day, despite the fact that she may have agreed with the sentiment only a few weeks earlier. 

It wastrue that the human was unconventional, and her thought process seemed to jump around in such a way that confused most. But she had revived a centuries-dead school of magic on her own. Most of her spells were rather rudimentary still, yes, but she was learning at an astonishing rate for a beginner. Let alone a beginner who, by all accounts, shouldn’t be able to cast at all. This wasn’t even mentioning her creativity, talent, and emotional intelligence, all of which put many of Hexside’s best to shame. Anyone who overlooked her tenacity, determination, and wide array of skills were either jealous or too fixated on magical spectacle to notice other forms of brilliance.

  
So, no, Amity did not take kindly to anyone who seriously viewed Luz as some sort of idiot, scraping by on luck. 

She _especially_ did not take kindly to that line of thinking when this so-called ‘idiot’ had managed to outsmart her all morning.

Because, yes, try as she could, Hexside’s former queen had been bested by Luz in whatever game the human was getting at. The two often worked together on Luz’s abomination track class days, for reasons related _strictly_ to Amity’s status as Top Student. It was logical! Amity enjoyed tutoring, especially for a student as passionate as Luz. The human was a fast learner, but she had quite a bit of ground to make up for. 

(Besides, the way Luz stuck out her tongue and furrowed her brow when in thought, or how she doodled little Azura drawings during lecture, was just too adorable.)

But today was not a typical day.

Luz had managed to weaponize their in-class partnerships in her scheme, because of _course_ she had. She would lull the witch into a false sense of security, only to hit her with another:

_ “Could you pass me a fresh quill, Mittens? Mine’s all out of ink, and Hooty gets mad if I pluck any other quills when I’m at school.”  _

__

_ “Psst. Mittens. Is this what you got for number five?” _

__

_ “So, wait, abomination goop is just old grapes, Mittens? Right?” _

(No. It isn’t.)

_ “Then what is it made of, Mittens? It’s not like, I dunno, poisonous, right? I’m not gonna die because I maybe sort of swallowed some when I was in Willow’s abomination pot…right? Mittens?" _

__

_ “Oh thank God—What? No, no I wasn’t scared! I was just…worried! Mittens! Stop laughing at me!” _

Amity hadn’t even managed to ask the human _why_ she was doing this! That was the worst part about this whole dumb mess. Instead of irritation or anger, she felt herself turning to goo every time Luz called her…that. She’d swoon, her face would flush, and she’d have to hope no one else was looking at her ears. It was by sheer luck that nothing important had been going each time she’d been called it. And Luz didn’t even seem to realize how severe of an effect it was having on her! That girl was going to be the death of her, and stupid, wonderful, oblivious Luz wouldn’t even realize it.

It was _just_ a name! It was a name she hated being called by Emira and Edric or literally any other person on the Isles! Even Mother and Father had stopped calling her it, outside of a few mocking jabs when she misbehaved. But the second Luz picked it up, Amity melted into a blushy mess, incapable of doing anything other than thinking ‘ _girl pretty.’_ It was unbearable and stupid and she hated that she kind of loved it?

Yes, it was a nuisance. It was getting in her way. But the way it made her heart flutter and her bile sac warm….well, it was indescribable. It was a feeling she’d never had before. Of _love—_ like. Of like, because love was too strong a word, _Amity_ , and girls would be freaked out to hear that their best friend was in love with them, _Amity_.

Or, maybe it would freak them out to hear their best friend like-liked them, too.

Wait, _was_ she Luz’s best friend? Even that was an assumption, especially after how she’d treated her, so maybe even that would make her uncomfo—

The witch swatted the air in front of her, letting out an irritate huff as she attempted to quell her swarming thoughts. It was lunchtime, not panic-over-Luz time, which should be held exclusively during non-academic hours. Not that she kept to that rule all that often, but regardless! This couldn’t stand. She had to convince Luz to stop…well, she wasn’t quite sure what it was, outside of a poorly conceived yet all together too effective plan on the human’s part. It was her duty as a Blight to end this once and for all, lest she embarrass the family name any more than she already has. 

At the very least, it’d be nice to know what was happening.

The cafeteria was its normal self, which was to say, absolute chaos. Principal Bump had been forced to divide lunch times amongst the tracks after a cold food war turned into a hot food war. For the most part, it had worked. But Abominations and Illusions had been lumped together, and anywhere illusion members went, chaos followed. 

For once, that may work in her favor, if she can manage to hunt down Augustus. He’s probably been avoiding her purposefully today, though, given how he didn’t meet by the cafeteria entrance as he typically did. No matter! While Amity lacked the prodigy level knowledge of illusions her siblings possessed, she had become adept at spotting illusionists’ attempts to hide.

As if to punctuate her point, two shimmery figures were moving towards her. It didn’t take a genius to recognize their silhouettes, and they were precisely the illusion students she didn’t want to see. Turning on her heel, Amity urgently began to walk the other way.

Unfortunately, the wonder twins seemed to be adapting, perhaps even developing basic intelligence. Her sudden change in direction had led her to literally walk into their fully visible forms. As remiss as she was to admit it, casting two poorly concealed illusions of themselves was rather clever.

“Mittens!” her siblings cried out, simultaneously, wrapping her into a hug. The twins looked _far_ too happy for Amity’s taste. And they _never_ sought her out during school. Something was up.

She drew a small circle, a double-sided abomination hand shoving the two away before hitting the floor with a _splat._ “What do you two want?” she crossed her arms and glared, hoping to intimidate them away. It probably wouldn’t work, but she was desperate to prevent what was likely a plan to embarrass her was, given their track record.

Emira let out a small gasp, clearly rehearsed. “Why, what’s wrong, Mittens?” She raised her hand to her head and leaned backwards, doing her best impression of Mother. “We’re actually here to help you! Honest. Would you just trust us?”

“No.”

Edric scoffed, standing over Amity with a smirk. She hated when he used his stupid height against her like that. “Good answer! But,” he said, stretching out the word before pinching her ear, “you’re just gonna have to!” His smile looked simultaneously menacing and innocent, and Amity wasn’t really sure how that was possible.

“I have stuff to do, Edric—” before she could finish her thought, Emira placed her hand on her shoulder, motioning for Ed to leave. It was terrifying to see he actually listened, whistling a tune as he left. 

That was a very, very, very, verybad sign. They must have planned this out to a tee. Amity gulped, looking up at her older sister just as she completed a spell circle. “Places to go, schemes to do, baby sister,” Emira commented, examining her non-casting hand, disinterest in her eyes. The older witch didn’t meet Amity’s gaze, but her sly smile said all it needed to. The circle completed, Emira vanished in a puff of smoke. Tentatively looking down, Amity realized two things:

Firstly: she was also now invisible. This was fine, and relatively normal when her siblings are concerned.

Secondly (and far more urgently): the floor was opening beneath her.

Had they been standing on a trapdoor this whole time? The Blight twins were dedicated to pranks, but this was plotted out like a work of art. It was an impressive amount of work, given how lazy they typically were. Amity braced herself as gravity took over, and she fell down into the below.

Imagine her surprise, then, when she felt herself falling sideways instead. That definitely wasn’t quite abiding by laws regarding physics, but attempting to reorient and stick the landing was a greater concern for the moment.

The goopy hands of a rapidly (and poorly, if she was being honest. She’d have to practice casting in high stress situations later) cast abomination broke her fall. Amity looked over her new surroundings, taking in the new, odd room they found themselves in. 

Judging by the age, color, and type of the stone making up the wall, it seemed likely this was still Hexside. Perhaps that construction track elective had finally had some merit after all. The far more bizarre aspect of the room was what exactly was in it.

The walls, floor, and even the ceiling were covered in various doors of different sizes and colors. Sitting against one of the few non-door parts of the room was one of the multi-track students Principal Bump had approved. She was in the same year as her siblings, but that was about where her familiarity with this girl ended. In her lap was a bowl of what looked to be mac and eyeballs, a fork held to her mouth. 

The mystery girl began choking on what was, one could assume, either a mac or eyeball, reaching for a glass of water next to her and pounding her chest. It would appear Emira had turned them visible, judging by this reaction.

“Oh, hey, babe! Didn’t realize you were skipping this period,” Emira exclaimed. She sounded far happier than Amity had ever heard her speak with…pretty much anyone from Hexside, honestly. “Me and Ed were just gonna help Mittens here,” she bent down, pinching Amity’s cheek. Was that going to be their new thing? Because it was even worse than their nickname, “with a little girl problem of hers.”

Finally catching her breath, this girl, who one could wager was likely Emira’s girlfriend? partner?, smiled, waving her hand, “Nah, or, kind of. I already heard this lecture last semester in detention track, so Teach let me go.” Looking over at Amity, she narrowed her eyes, “You’re sure she won’t narc? I thought you said she snitched on you guys all the time.”

“Pshhh, what, Viney? We’d _never_ say that about our baby sis!” She said, waving her hand in dismissal. Emira turned to look at her younger sister, holding her hands to her face in a plea “You won’t snitch on us, wight Mwittens? Pweeeease?”

Amity huffed, rolling her eyes. “I _told_ you not to call me that,” she mumbled, moving to lean against the wall.

Judging by the way Emira’s eyebrows suddenly rose and her smile grew, that appeared to have been exactly what she wanted to hear, which was another very bad sign, in what was becoming an increasingly long list of bad signs. “Oh? But, Mittens, I thought you liked it? After all, a little demon told me a certain human’s been calling you that all day.”

Gods, could Amity catch _one_ break today? This was getting to be ridiculous. She felt herself puff up, twisting into her usual anger face. She hadn’t even been aware she _did_ it until Luz told her that Ed and Em had pointed it out at the library, and now she got all self-conscious any time she got mad which only made her even _more_ mad!

“Awww!” Viney—was that actually her name? It seemed unlikely that Emira would give her partner the same nickname treatment she gave her sister, but when it came to the twins, one could never underestimate their love for practical jokes—cooed, “does she really have a thing for Luz? That’s _adorable_. Young love!”

“No!”

“Yeah, she does.”

The two Blights turned from Viney to face each other as the other girl burst into laughter, rocking around on the floor. Emira’s dumb, stupid smirk was just _so_ infuriating. If she weren’t in a cast right now…

“Shut—stop _telling_ people that, Em!” Amity whined. She felt like so childish, so immature, but her siblings knew exactly how to push her buttons. “Also, you’re only like, two years older than me!” She said, pointing her finger wildly at Viney. Her face was likely redder than it had been with Luz, at this point. “Did you just bring me here to tease me, Em? I have _stuff_ to do, like tell Luz—”

“Tell me what?” Luz said, popping her head out from a trapdoor right next to Amity. Her mouth was in a little ‘o,’ an illness-inducing level of cute. The human pulled herself through, before getting on her knees, reaching her hand back through, and pulling Edric up as well. In a surprisingly fluid movement for the klutz, she practically jumped up back onto her feet, dusting herself off. “Oh, Viney, hey! Haven’t seen you in a piping hot minute,” she moved over towards the upperclassman, before shyly rubbing the back of her neck, “I didn’t really know how to get back here outside of the detention track, honestly—wait, right, Amiiii-ttens, tell me what?”

Before giving Viney a chance to respond, Luz whipped back around, staring at Amity, attempting to play off her near slip-up with yet more finger guns. Were all humans this excitable? Because Amity’s humanfriend— _a human friend, two words, separate, who doesn’t belong to her,_ was just as easily distracted as a Hellpup. She was, thankfully, far less likely to burn through flesh or drag young witchlings into the volcanic bogs.

Amity _really_ needed to get a grasp on her internal monologue.

The sudden realization that, oh yes, Luz’s chaotic ramblings _did_ need an answer drew her back to the present, just as Emira left a heavy slap on her back. “Go on, Mittens! Don’t mind us,” she encouraged, giving a wink. None of the three onlookers made any attempt to hide the fact they were watching.

Amity turned back towards her sister, making some very strangle-y looking hand gestures and what were likely rather unflattering angry grunts and— _in five, out five, in five, out five._ She shut her eyes, opening her palms and laying them to her side, exhaling the anger just as Lilith had taught her. A clear mind is the start to clear magic!

The plan. That was what was important: figure out this _Mittens_ thing. Calmly and slowly, she opened her eyes as she faced Luz “Right. Yes! Luz, I was going to ask youuuuu…” 

Looking at Luz had been the wrong move. She should have kept her eyes shut, what was she thinking!? _Looking_ at Luz? The human bounced on her feet, a patient smile on her face weakening Amity's resolve. How had she managed to be mean to this girl once!?

Anxiety panged in her chest as the human began looking more nervous, raising an eyebrow at her. She was saying something now. What was she saying? Oh, now she’s raising her hand. Her hands are so cute! They’re so strong, but so soft, and—

The visual of one of those strong, soft hands waving in front of her face interrupted her, while the sound of three teenagers snickering sent her crashing back down to the Isles. Amity’s ears tinged red as she bargained with herself. _Please_ , she thought, _just one. normal. sentence_.

Seeing the worry on the human’s face still tore threw her heart. She couldn’t go through with this, _especially_ not in front of her siblings. And Viney, who was still here for some reason. Anything she said about being called Mittens would just give them an opportunity to chime in, which was the exact opposite of what she wanted. “Have you…uhh, did you know that they’re serving frozen fire spirit sherbet for dessert? Today? I just thought tha—"

Instantly, Luz’s face lit back up. At least if Amity’s dignity had to die, it made her crush happy. The human pounced onto her arm, wrapping her hands around her arm, leaning into her, a beautiful twinkle in her eyes. “ _Frozen_ fire! That sounds, like, deliciously paradoxical, and I think paradoxes are prooobably the tastiest logical fallacy. Can we get some?” she shouted, far too loud for how close she was to her face because _oh Gods she was close_ , while shaking Amity’s arm, “Pleaaaaase, Mittens!”

Well. There goes any chance of getting Luz to stop…whatever she’s doing. Amity _wanted_ to feel upset at herself, or upset at Luz. But the exhilaration of feeling Luz’s brand of constant, _friendly and platonic,_ physical touchwon out, and the witch felt herself soften, scooting closer towards the human. “Yes! Yeah, of course. It’s, uh, delicious.” She paused, looking at all the doors in the room. “Do you know like, where the exit is…or?”

“Oh, duh, yes!” In a tragic twist of fate, Luz leapt off of her arm with a quick _mh-hm_ , grabbing the handle of a door that was actually on the wall for once. “This one should drop us off right outside the cafeteria, m’lady,” she turned and dramatically opened the door for Amity, before looking over at Edric, “uh, is it okay if I take a rain check on those hexes hold’em lessons?”

Edric shrugged, looking around, “I don’t have any…whatever those are to give you, but you should go with sweet ol’ Mittens. I think you might have more fun with her,” he quipped. The knowing look he shot at Amity made her feel far too exposed. 

“Woo! Fire!” Luz cheered. The excitable girl rushed through the door, holding it open from the other side. Amity made a brief mental note of how much the other girl enjoyed fire. She wasn’t what practical use that had, but it was good to know. Hobbling after her, the youngest Blight paused at the door, a sly smile growing on her face.

With all the drama she could muster, Amity slowly turned back to face Edric and Emira. She wouldn’t admit it, but she had practiced her head turns to figure out the most fear-inducing way to get her ponytail to flip, and she hoped it worked on her siblings as well as it did her classmates. “By the way…whatever happened to _Emira’s_ bag you two were arguing over?” she hummed, hoping her sarcastic innocence would spark this flame.

Hearing the argument already brewing, she turned back towards the door, her work done. It was impossible to hide the satisifcation she derived from wrecking her siblings’ attempt to undermine her. The best laid plans of micefolk and mer were so easily led astray by a single blow! In a voice slightly louder than the twin’s escalating jabs—which meant it was not too far from a shout—she bellowed, “Nice meeting you, Viney,” before slamming the door behind her, laughing to herself.

Was it a little mean? Yes. But when they inevitably whined to her later, all she'd have to do is mention the 'library incident,' to silence their grumbles.

The rest of lunch was far more pleasant, in Amity’s eyes, although Augustus continued to elude them. It was of less concern now, however. Meeting with the twins, for all their stupid antics, had given her a reminder on how to deal with such name-calling, and her blushing-around-Luz levels returned to a more acceptable amount; enough that she could easily blame the flame in her cheeks on the fire spirit sherbet. 

She’d just have to see whatever Luz had planned for her when it happened, which was not in the least bit terrifying at all, despite what her anxiety was telling her.


	4. happy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guess who didn't post this one on time!! sorry i'm so bad at schhedules!! adhd does as adhd will.
> 
> anyways!!! this is the last 'big' chapter. i have a small little epilogue to upload, which will be soon, i promise lol. thank you all for the amazing support you've shown to this fic and all your amazing comments! i've had SO much fun writing this, and i have a long list of future fic ideas :-)
> 
> i also want to give a special thank you to my friend [qamar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/qamar/pseuds/qamar/), who is the best beta reader ever. please, if you like greek mythology, go read their fic! they have such a descriptive way of writing, it's amazing. 
> 
> without further ado, enjoy the chapter!

In comparison to her morning classes, Amity was thankful her after lunch ones had gone relatively smoothly. No thanks to Luz, of course. The human had continued to call her Mittens every opportunity she could, and it still made Amity feel like she had a Palisman in her stomach from time to time, but at least she was no longer a constant hue of some shade of red. Instead, it was just _most_ of the time! It should really count as a testament to both her strength and Luz’s trusting nature that the human had accepted every excuse for her perpetual blush the witch had provided. 

Sure, it hadn’t been easy by any means, with Luz’s dumb, stupid, beautiful face, and her weird human slang and weird human references and weird cute human ears constantly distracting her when the name-calling wasn’t. But it was almost done!

A small voice in the back of her head reminded her that was not a good thing. Luz hadn’t done whatever it was she was planning to do today, and there was only one class left: Introduction to Demonology and Demon Habitats 101. All class long was supposed to be dedicated to student presentations of a popular demon, something that had seemed important to worry about this morning, but now only ranked fifth or sixth on her list of anxiety-provokers for the day. Whatever this was building up to, it was going to happen either during or after this class.

Still, Amity had a presentation to give, crush or no crush. Mx. Grambleplum was a notorious grump, and with a Blight’s constant need to impress, this was going to take all of her attention. Any fears of what Luz was planning would have to wait! After all, the human had her own presentation to worry about, too.

Which come to mention it, was actually going rather well! The human had chosen to, quite literally, present King. As in she was up at the front of classroom, interviewing the self-professed King of Demons. Both were adorably in sync—Luz began swinging her legs and King would begin swinging his (much shorter) legs. King would scratch his head in thought, and Luz would lean in closer. It was sweet how the human was like that, so easily able to meld with other people. Or demons, in this case.

Given how strange Eda’s pet (or, friend? Roommate?) could be, the rest of the interview had been rather informative, and almost entirely true. In fact, excluding King’s demand for fealty, the oddest thing had happened were some students in the crowd whispering that they thought King was a Hexside professor, for whatever reason.

As Luz ended with a bow—the demon mimicking her shortly after—Grambleplum walked over. “Rather well done, miss Human,” they said dryly, although by the way their six eyes perked up, they did seem genuinely impressed. “A B+ for you,” the professor said. Their tongue grabbed the corresponding stamp off their desk and pressed the grade onto King’s skull.

“Woo!” cried the human, picking up her grade/friend, spinning him around, “daytime talk shows get the grade!”

Clearing their throat, Mx. Grambleplum demanded attention return to the front. “Lastly…Ms. Blight, to the front, please,” they monotoned, motioning for the witch to head to the front.

“What!?” squeaked King from the back, “I thought you were all going to worship me,” he turned to Luz, hopping up on the table, “School sucks! What’s the point of being around all you feeble minded teens if none of you are going to celebrate me?” He headed over towards one of the class windows, reaching for the mechanism to open it. Pausing, he faced the class again, “I’m _outta_ here, peasants!” and attempted to reach the lever. 

He struggled with it for a few moments, all eyes on him, before looking back over at Luz and shooting her a wordless plea. Leaning over, she pulled the lever, the window releasing with a deep _pop_.

Scampering onto the windowsill, he did his best to look menacing. He appeared to be trying to look down on the class, despite still being shorter than the seated students, even standing on the window. “See, mortals? Now this feeble human has gotten on my good side! You will all RUE the day you crossed me! Rue!” He screeched before hopping outside.

“…Right, well, Ms. Bligh—”

Returning to the open window, King crawled up a bit, placing his head on the sill, “Another thing! I’m an A+, teacher! An A PLUS. You couldn’t even begin to affor—”

King’s angry squeaking was cut off as Grambleplum telepathically shut the window, three of their eyes glaring out the window, the other three remaining trained on Amity. “Ms. Blight, if you would? The Slitherbeast?” 

Yes. Of course. The Slitherbeast had been a natural choice for her. She had fought the beast once before, which was alone more familiarity than most had with their subjects! Of course, Luz had been there, too, which _probably_ had no bearing on why she chose it. Besides, given her family’s cabin at the Knee, Amity had been familiar with its habitat for quite some time before Luz! If she just kept telling herself it had nothing to do with the human, then it would be true! 

While it may have been possible to ignore Luz’s influence in _why_ she picked the demon, it was impossible to ignore her influence in how Amity intended to present. Luz’s projects always had a certain theatric ‘razzle dazzle’ to them, an undeniable charm. They were a far cry from the dry, routine memorizations of most at Hexside—and now, Amity wanted to try her hand at this flashier style.

Honestly, that ‘Luz pizazz’ was unavoidable in everything the girl did. It was arguably the spark that first lit Amity’s heart on fire—gods, that was cheesy, even if it was true. She just wanted to give the human a glimpse of that same passion; prove to her that she could do it, too. It had taken weeks of practice and far more work for what should have been a relatively simple project, but Amity had managed to create a crowning jewel to top off a perfectly researched, perfectly performed lecture. Besides, Professor Grambleplum was well known for awarding bonus points based on going above the simple memorization of facts.

She passed the human’s desk, steeling herself as Luz gave her a small thumbs up, mouthing a _you’ve got this!_ Hopefully, she did.

Tipping over three whole jars of abomination goo, Amity dove into her introduction as she molded them into one big goo pile, slowly chiseling in finer detail. Ideally, she would have been able to conjure the abomination without the starter jars. She had managed to reach that level with more typical summonings, as she had done at Grom or her witch’s duel, but this was her first time molding something at this scale and this intricacy without the aid of a power glyph. It was best to element any confounding variables, especially when she was already prattling off a speech.

Did it look impressive from the audience? She hoped so, attempting to pass as cool and unimpressed. After all, half of being a Blight was in maintaining appearance of easy superiority. The goop wavered slightly under her magical grasp. It was being extraordinarily difficult; Amity would finish sculpting one part of her creation and move to another, only to have to return and touch up what had slipped. Sure, she could summon smaller abominations without a thought, but for something this large? This complex? It was difficult. Despite what many believed, Amity was no prodigy—she worked herself to the bone, without the innate understanding that Ed and Em seemed to have in illusions, and an abomination of this size was risky. 

The speech regarding her subject was of equal importance, of course. She had written it before even beginning practicing on her abomination and could likely guide someone through the particularities of the Slitherbeast’s lifespan, prey, and preferred forms of torture in her sleep. The whole performance was a well-oiled machine, carefully wound. An abomination track professor certainly would have noticed the minute ways the blob struggled to stay in form as she molded it, true, but Mx. Grambleplum was officially a part of the bard track; there was no cause for concern!

Just as Amity has practiced, she finished her speech just as she completed the final details on the best in front of her.

A perfect, one-to-one scale replication of the Slitherbeast. With a calm, collected smile, she turned to her creation, “abomination, roar” it mimicked the Slitherbeast’s blood-curdling scream. 

Amity barely heard the ensuing applause, only truly aware of Grambleplum saying…something. Her limbs felt as if they were being yanked in a million different directions, her vision starting to blur, and she felt a little wobbly. The professor appeared to be rolling what she was fairly certain was the A+ stamp in ink, thank the Gods. As soon as it hit her head, she could drop the abomination, and all this effort would have been worthwhile. 

Well, hopefully. If Luz liked it.

Time seemed to be moving in slow motion, though, as the witch watched her teacher head over, each step impossibly slow. This _hurt_. She was so tired…why was it so much harder now? It had never been easy, but she had never felt _this_ drained in her practices.

Out of the corner of her eye, Amity spotted movement. She turned her head a few degrees, blinking away sweat. 

Luz had leapt on top of her desk, much to the chagrin of her neighbor. She held her fingers in her mouth, making an impressively loud whistle.

That was when Amity realized something very bad was about to happen.

Worse than Willow and Gus figuring out her crush.

Worse than Luz calling her Mittens all day.

Worse than her siblings attempting to corner her about being called Mittens all day.

Luz, ripping her fingers out of the whistle, balling them into fists.

Luz, throwing those fists into the sky.

Luz, taking a full-body breath in, squeezing her eyes shut.

Luz, opening her mouth, unbaling her fists, moving them to cup her mouth.

Finally, the human bellowed, her volume seeming to dwarf the fake-Slitherbeast’s earlier cry.

** “WOOOO!! Way to go, _Mittens_!” **

Amity felt the same lack of control she had nearly every other time the human had called her that today, turning pink and weak-kneed. Unfortunately, losing control like that is _much_ worse when attempting to hold together a massive abomination.

Time returned to its normal speed, but it felt five times as fast as before.

Instantaneously the rooom fell to chaos. Amity’s massive creation exploded into purple goop, coating the room in a layer several inches high. A globule _thwack_ ’ed into the witch’s head, sending her crumpling to the ground. Her ears rang, blocking out the shrieks of surprised classmates. It was likely only a few seconds—maybe a minute—but it felt as though she spent hours staring up at the ceiling.

A groan of pain and a wood desk scraping against the floor forced Amity out of her mental haze. Right. The professor. Quaking a bit, the witch attempted to get to her feet, but a sudden pain in her leg made her wince. She fell back to the ground, leaning herself against an overturned desk. Mx. Grambleplum’s undivided stares were intense, honed exclusively on her. Panic suddenly rose to her chest. A bad grade, after all this work, would get her in quite a bit of trouble at home.

The purple goop refused to budge off her face, no matter how much Amity swiped at it. There was just nowhere clean, nowhere to take the sludge. She had to think fast, had to confront this disaster heads on. Once more she tried to raise herself up, only to receive confirmation that, yes, her ankle didn’t miraculously stop hurting in the last three seconds. Fine. She’d do this sitting.

“And….and that,” the witch scrambled, “was my…grand finale! A fully accurate representation of the Slitherbeast’s tendency to, uh, explode upon death!” Amity groaned. _Gods_ , she thought, _why couldn’t I have just stayed silent? A lie that blatant? I’m screwed_.

“Ms. Blight. I have no idea what to say,” Grambleplum began. Each word seemed to echo through Amity’s head. “That was the first and only time I have ever seen… _that_ at my time at Hexside.”

“I know, and I’m incredibly sorr—”

“What an extraordinary demonstration! You truly went above what I could have ever expected, even of a Blight. We don’t even cover demon death until the third year courses. Truly remarkable! Everyone, another round of applause, please!”

Once again, the classroom exploded into applause, even more rambunctious than before. The slapping of slimy hands made it sound far swampier, far murkier. Upon feeling the grade stamp hit her head, Amity finally allowed herself to embrace her new home on the floor, collapsing backwards as she felt a dopey smile overtake her. At least she had been the last to present? Small mercies! She wouldn’t need to worry about getting up for anyone else.

The final scream of the day interrupted her peaceful acceptance of the void, however. As soon as it had begun, her classmates’ cheering abruptly ended. The mass of students began flooding their ways out of the lecture hall amidst a shouted reminder for next week’s homework from the professor, who somehow managed to leave even before most of the students had gotten from their seat. Hexside had some strange teachers.

A sudden murmur broke out in the crowd, the mass of people twisting and weaving around a piercing voice, “Amity—pardon me, sorry. Amity! Amity! Excuse me, out of the way please—Amity!” 

Luz burst through the wall of people exiting the classroom, finally reaching the witch. The human fell to her knees, sliding a little in the goop. “Amity! I am _so so so_ sorry! Are you okay? It looks like you got hit _really_ hard and I’m _so_ sorry!” As she spoke, the human stood her up on her good foot while looping their arms around each other for support, “I…I think your crutch is probably buried under some goop. Can I take you to the Healers? I know it’s my fault _again_ , and I don’t wanna leave my best friend laying around to make abomination angels—wait, do you guys do that? Oh my God that’d be so fun, we should—sorry, I’m nervous, I ramble! Ha,” she wheezed. Her normally full laugh was short and breathy, followed by a nervous whine.

Amity blinked, giving her hopefully not concussed brain a second to process the frantic monologue. Okay, so Luz was sorry, couldn’t find the crutch, wanted to help, Amity was her best friend, something about abomination angels? What were tho—

Suddenly, Amity stopped; perhaps a bit too quickly for how fast Luz was travelling, apparently. The human yelped, nearly slipping as her passenger yanked her backwards. Had Luz really said that? 

“I’m…I’m your best friend?”

“What? Yeah, you are. Oh no, did the goo eat some of your memories? Can it _do_ that!?” she turned back, shaking Amity by the shoulders, “Why didn’t you tell me!? I mean, I guess you couldn’t, you forgot. Oh beans, come on, we’ve got to get you to the healers right now. I can jog your memory on the way, okay, you’re Amit—” the look of misguided panic on Luz’s face was oddly precious, but it felt wrong letting her stir in this fear.

“No, Luz, I haven’t lost my memories or anything,” she relaxed against the human, letting her lead her out of the classroom, “I just…I don’t know, I kinda assumed that Willow or Gus were.”

“Well, yeah,” she stated, looking Amity in the eyes. It was a tender gaze, one that reminded her of when the human had volunteered to fight Grom on her behalf. “I mean, I’m really good friends with them! But…I dunno, I just feel different around you.”

Amity was certain her heart was about to leap from her chest. That was…it…she had never felt so warm. It was as if she were drowning in the world’s most comfortable blanket, made of the finest enchanted silk. 

Still, she attempted to control herself. There were many different ways to feel around someone, of course, and obviously, best friends felt differently about each other than normal friends. That was in the name! It’s not proof of some deeper romantic connection! It’s just a hint of some deeper romantic connection to latch onto and spiral about tonight.

“That’s…I feel the same way, Luz.” Amity paused a beat, tugging on Luz’s hand. The human was nervous, and they were going too fast for her leg. A selfish part of her had a request to potentially alleviate that, and before she could squash it like a responsible witch, it slipped out. “Uhm…could you…maybe carry me again? I’m kind of tired and…y’know?” The end of her sentence hovered out of reach, close enough that Luz could hopefully fill it in. It wasn’t a _lie_ ; she was tired. But a deeper part of her also loved how safe she felt in her crush’s arms. It didn’t really make sense, wanting to feel that safety; they were safe right, duh, but that desire for security was overwhelming.

“Oh, yeah, of course,” Luz said, swooping her up without skipping a beat. She didn’t even falter; it had been an entirely fluid movement. Amity felt herself swooning in the human’s arms as the past few minutes suddenly caught up to her. What was she _doing_!? This was so reckless, this was a bad, bad, bad idea! After the whole day she’d had? This was asking for trouble. There was a non-zero percent chance she’d just melt into the goop still coating them, falling from Luz’s stupid strong arms. 

But, then again, looking up at her eyes from this angle was probably worth it. 

It seemed Luz mistook her stare for anger, the human girl briefly looking down at her and frowning. “Again, I’m so sorry, Amity. I didn’t—wait, is it a left or a right ahead?”

“Left.”

“Right.” A look of realization dawned over the human as she shook her head, “I mean, gotcha. Okay, going left—oh. It’s right here! Heh,” she let out a small chuckle, nearly crashing into the door. 

With the same level of zeal that had gotten them into this mess, Luz kicked the door open, eliciting an aggressive hiss from the room’s occupant.

The serpentoid healer on duty relaxed a bit upon seeing there was no danger, but the sheer annoyance in his eyes was remarkable. He sat the book he had been reading on his desk, bending its spine in a way that made Amity cringe. “I am uncertain how it is in your realm, human, but here, doors are not made for kicking,” he scolded, slithering to his feet. 

It was impossible to deny he was intimidating as he leaned over the desk to see what Luz had gotten to. Upon spotting Amity in her hands, he rolled his eyes. “Again? What is it now? A Blight kid shouldn’t be in here this often…” 

Most of the rest of the healer’s lecture went in one ear and out the other, a true rarity for Amity. Most of the time, a single cruel world from an authority figure could ruin the rest of her day, but it seemed so much less important around Luz. Just like last time, she refused to leave, despite the healer’s threat to, “make her life a living punishment,” and of poisoning her with, “venom beyond her wildest nightmares.” As it turned out, the goo had managed to deactivate a healing glyph on her cast. A simple re-alignment fixed it, and the two were unceremoniously shoved out of the healer’s office, a rude grumble notwithstanding. As Amity had discovered twice now, Hexside was not known for its bedside manner. 

The two girls burst into giggles the moment the door closed behind them. It wasn’t very becoming of a witch of Amity’s status, no, but being around Luz made it difficult to see why that status mattered at all. If someone like Luz, so sweet, so kind, isn’t one of her equals, and a girl like Boscha was, what did that say about the group as a whole?

The moment passed, though, the two girls eventually coming to silence. Luz struck first, motioning towards a bench. “Wanna sit?” 

Hexside was mostly empty by this point, the after-school rush was gone. Students were either long gone or in their various after school clubs. There was no real reason to stick around.

And yet, Amity found herself nodding, taking Luz’s hand.

The bench felt deceptively long, sitting at the opposite end of the human. She _wanted_ to be closer, especially after the proximity they had just shared on their trek here, but it felt wrong to initiate, like she was tricking the girl. But once again, Luz managed to surprise her. Sticking a tongue out, the human slid over towards her and licked her thumb, wiping away a piece of abomination from the witch’s nose.

Luz smiled, saying something. Truthfully, Amity didn’t hear it. Her entire thought process was honed in on the single finger that had just graced her nose. She had been _held_ by the human before. Why was something so small having such an effect on her? Was she just that tired? 

A sudden yawn confirmed that, yes, it seemed she was; her eyes, too, drooped in agreeance. Stars, it felt like she had been trampled by a gorgon. Had she really managed to do this to herself from _one_ botched abomination? 

Feeling Luz pull away left a harsh cold, a shiver rocking through the witch’s body. It took all her self control not to grab onto the human for warmth. Was this magic exhaustion? Gods, she hadn’t had to deal with draining herself that badly since she was still friends with Willow. If she had pushed herself that far and done that badly for her dumb attempt to show off, Ed and Em would _never_ let her live it down.

“Hey, Mitten—Amity?” Luz asked. She sounded off, a far cry from the Luz of this morning.

However, the sheer amount of guilt on Luz’s face was a surprise. Any of the human’s previous giddiness was gone, her eyes glued to the floor, “I’m sorry. I know I said it already, but, I really didn’t mean to distract you like I did. I knew you liked the nickname—Mittens, I mean—but I kinda forgot that standing on desks and shouting might be going a bit far.” She laughed, slow and awkward, nothing like the jovial laughter from before.

With a boldness Amity didn’t even know she possessed, she acted. Stars, she really must be that exhausted; she was acting without thought, thinking all fogged up. Grabbing Luz’s hand in one of hers, and moving the other girl’s head back to face hers with the other. _Where had this confidence been this morning?_ A voice in her head jeered. She shook her head, banishing the thought. Luz’s needs was more important than any self-doubt or nickname right now.

“Luz, it’s okay,” Amity started. She hoped the sincerity she intended was shining through, though. Gods, there was so much to say, but she felt she had so little time. “I _may_ have been a bit out of my element, honestly. Please don’t tell anyone, though? I really wanted to impress y—Professor Grambleplum,” she quickly corrected herself. She wanted Luz to feel better, but she didn’t need to know _quite_ that much. Unless she were to ask really, really nicely, because who could say no to those round ears?

Thankfully the relief between said ears was evident already. “Really!? I wouldn’t have known! You make it look so effortless, Mittens,” she said, lightly punching Amity’s arm.

Ah, yes. The second part of what Luz had said; perhaps it was time to open that jar of elixir. “Uh, about ‘Mittens,’ Luz. I don’t know what Ed and Em told you at the library, but honestly, I don’t really like the nickname,” she scratched at some purple goo still covering her black nail polish, attempting to release some of her nerves, “I kinda think it’s childish.”

The guilt suddenly returned to Luz’s face tenfold, her eyes going distant. After a beat, she let out a loud groan, “WHYYYYYY,” leaning her head over the back of the bench, gripping chunks of her hair with her hands. She repeated herself once more, in a slightly quieter groan. “Whyyyyy.”

Slowly, she rose back to sit up straight, looking at Amity again, “I’m _so_ sorry, Amity. Again,” turning away, she angrily mumbled to herself. It was difficult to make out specifics, other than what sounded like Gus? But why would—

Ohhhhhh.

“ _That_ was what he told you?” the witch blurted out, her mouth moving faster than her brain, “I-I mean, uh…”

Luz raised an eyebrow, her guilty expression growing more curious. “You…knew?”

“You remember this morning, with Willow? She told me Gus had done _something_ , but then you showed up, and, well…” 

“WHYYYYYYY?” Luz repeated, again, slapping her forehead, “God, I really, really misread things today—” she paused, realization of something dawning on her, “Ohmygod, I called you Mittens in front of the whole class. I called you Mittens in front of the whole class _and you don’t even like the name!_ ” She pulled down on her cheeks, before flipping her cowl over her head, and burying her face in her hands, shaking it slowly.

Uncertain on how (or, if she _should_?) comfort the girl, Amity settled on slowly patting her back. “If…if it makes you feel any better, I…” the witch paused, lowering her voice to barely above a whisper—even her heartbeat seemed louder, in comparison, “maybe, uh…thought it was cute. When you did it.”

Luz poked lifted up slightly from her hands, one eye peeking through at her face. “Really?”

Amity nodded—far too quickly, and with far too much energy. She was certain she looked like one of those ‘strawberry’ fruits Luz had mentioned, all red and green. Mentally, she mimicked Luz’s _whyyy_ groans.

“You’re not just, like, saying that, are you?”

A small squeak of, “no,” escaped her. “It’s…different when you do it. It’s like, yours is all fluffy and sweet, and cute, just like you!” Luz sat up, staring at her. Pink dusted her face in stupidly unfairly adorable way, sending Amity even deeper into her gushy spiral, “N-no, Not, I mean you _are_ sweat—I mean, sweet—not sweat, I’m sweaty! Nervous, sweaty—and you’re and fluffy and cute, but like, not in a you know, _weird_ way! I mean, being weird can be good, I know that, uh, we’ve talked about that before and, well—”

Luz’s giggles cut her off, thankfully. “You’re a cutie pie, Ami~,” she sang, and whatever those abomination angels were supposed to be might as well appeared and granted Amity eternal youth or whatever they were supposed to do—she didn’t really understand human realm creatures. 

The human dug into her bag, adorned with those weird patches of symbols she didn’t really understand. She let out a small _aha!_ , grabbing a package of some kind wrapped in brown paper, tied with an intricate string. “I know I didn’t like, mention it specifically,” Luz smiled—one of her warm, genuine smiles (which, yes, she had _different smiles!_ These ones were smaller than some others, but seemed to carry maybe even more punch, not that they all weren’t equally important—), one that told Amity more than a million words ever could, “but, uh, Gus basically told me that it was your birthday—which I’m just now realizing, he might have lied about that too? I don’t know why…” she trailed off, getting lost in her own thoughts. “Not important right now! Basically, he said nicknames were a big deal for witch birthdays? I really, really didn’t get it, but it seemed important so, uh, I made you these.”

She pushed the small package onto Amity’s lap, who stared at it in awe. “Oh, Luz, I can’t—it’s, it’s not my birthday at all, I’m—”

Luz reached over and _pinched_ Amity’s mouth shut and _wow_ that was something. “Don’t worry about it! I made it just for you, anyways. Just, I dunno, it’s to make up for getting you all covered in abomination!”

With a blush, the witch cast a spell circle, the string coming undone and the paper crumpling down to the side.

“Oh my stars,” she exhaled, “Luz…”

A felt pair of red mittens, one with a rendition of ‘Luzura’ and ‘Hecamity,’ fighting off the evil dragon king, side-by-side. She had even incorporated the brain-slug scar that Hecamity had gotten in their latest co-authored fanfiction! She held it up, getting a closer look, only to remember the second mitten had still gone unexamined. 

It was perhaps even more beautiful than the first. It featured Luz and Amity’s own Grom night dance—Luz, catching her in mid-air, hearts and pink cherry blossoms stitched around them. Moving it around, the hearts and blossoms swayed, too. 

“Luz…are these…enchanted?”

Luz practically shook, her head rocking up and down. “Yeah! I had to ask Eda for help with that—they should also have a warmness enchantment,” she beamed, “I was gonna try to do that myself with a rune, but, uh, I was a little worried mine would just set them on fire instead.”

Without a doubt, it was the best, most thoughtful gift Amity had ever received. She felt tears spring to her eyes as she kept turning them over, absorbing every detail she could find. The hand-stitched embroidery—how did Luz even know how to do that? It was…breathtaking. 

“I know that I’m gonna have to go back before, y’know, it’s cold enough to use them,” the human started off, rubbing behind her neck, “but I’m gonna come home— _I mean,_ come back. To the Isles! I’m gonna be back for Christmas break! I guess you guys probably don’t have Christmas? That’d be weird,” she laughed, “he wasn’t a big fan of demons! But, uh, I just hope you like them.”

Amity can’t fight the rising warmth to her cheeks, the way she feels she’s vibrating with energy. Wordlessly, she embraces Luz into a hug, sniffling into her neck. Luz smells good, a mix of familiar woody and forest smells alongside far more foreign ones, likely coming from her home realm. It felt nice, having someone to fall into like this. It wasn’t something Amity could remember ever having before, at least, not to the same degree.

Tears streamed from her face, wetting Luz’s cloak. The human was stroking her hair now. It was calming. “Amity? Are those, uh, happy tears? I didn’t like, cross a line with the nickname thing, did I?”

The witch tore herself away, shaking her head. “No! No, Luz. They’re amazing—I didn’t even know you could sew? Or knit? I’m sorry, I don’t really know the right words,” she felt herself chuckle—the prim and proper Amity Blight, lacking the words?—before continuing on. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a better birthday present, Luz, and it’s not even my birthday.”

Both of them burst into laughter. It came easy when she was around Luz, even before they had become friends. Amity didn’t think any other person made her laugh as much, even when there wasn’t really anything to laugh at.

  
Luz beamed, “I’m so glad you like them! Yeah, I picked up sewing and stuff when I cosplayed Azura—wait, do you guys have cosplay? Oh my God, I have to show you the pictures—” she reached for her human scroll-phone, only to find it remained black, “—later, I guess. Ugh, I need a new battery.”

There was a lot to unpack in that sentence, most of which Amity found herself struggling to understand, but she nodded, leaning back into the human. It takes all she has to stay awake, slumping over more and more onto Luz. The girl doesn’t seem to mind, though. Her cheeks were so near, and they looked so…just…nice? Could cheeks look nice? As her brain chewed over whether or not cheeks could be considered cute, her heart took action. She mumbled something, catching Luz’s attention, and moved her lips to the human’s cheek, leaving a small kiss.

A loud squeak drove Amity back to terrifying realization. Gods, she _must_ be sick with something if she was being this reckless, this loose with her feelings! 

“Wow.” Luz whispered, her voice quiet and shakey. “I guess I should call you Mittens more, huh?” The quiet laugh, the pink face; seeing them both on the human, for once, made Amity’s heart flutter.

This was dangerous. Amity had already brought down so many walls for Luz. Admitting to another soul she liked Azura, making up with Willow, leaving Boscha’s group, and now everything that had happened today? The witch was pushing it, and with how tired she was, there was no guarantee she’d be able to yank back on the reigns to stop before careening over an emotional cliff. 

Some stupid, needy part of her wondered if that wouldn’t be such a bad thing. She wanted to reprimand herself, for thinking that a real witch would need this sort of comfort, that she would deserve such love from someone like Luz. Powerful witches were like her parents, were like Lilith. They were relentless, they didn’t have frivolous needs like this.

But the Owl Lady—Luz’s mentor—she was powerful, too, right? People said _many_ things about her. _Many_ , _many_ things. Scammer, cheat, lazy, evil…the list went on. But not once had Amity heard anyone call Eda weak. Eda had Luz, Eda had King, and for all the bad Amity could say of him, she had Hooty to boot. 

Eda wasn’t a perfect role model—no, Gods, she was far from it—but if she could understand magic to the degree she did, _and_ leave room for people like Luz, why couldn’t Amity?

So, Amity let go of the reigns, letting this brave spirit consume her.

Quietly, she rose, meeting Luz’s eyes. Somehow, the human was still rambling about…something. Their eyes locked and Luz trailed off mid-sentence, her mouth hanging open.

“Maybe, uh, you should, Luz,” the witch asked. She wanted to look anywhere but Luz, but they were so close to each other now. “Call me…Mittens, I mean.”

Huh. Well. That hadn’t been what she had wanted to say. Blood rushed through her face; she could practically hear steam whistling out of her ears like one of Father’s tea kettles.

“Huahwha?” Luz…said? Squeaked? It was difficult to nail down the noise that babbled out of her. She pointed to herself, mouthing ‘ _me?_ ’

Okay. That hadn’t done anything good; if anything, it seemed to have broken Luz. Was that permanent in humans? Probably not. Hopefully not! Second attempt. That was fine. It had taken her weeks to make her abomination project, right? And that had gone fine! Mostly. Two attempts! Nothing wrong with two. It wasn’t perfect. It was fine! Two attempts. All good! Fine! Two! It was fine—

“Luz,” she spat out, surprising her inner monologue. This was it. Amity was hyperaware of every sensation around her. Her frazzled hair, rubbing against her skull, the sun, shining from a window behind her, hitting her neck, the warmth in her cheeks, the twitch of her ears. 

Upon hearing her name, Luz had straightened up, sitting tall. She still wore her confusion, but she looked as charming as always. How did she always look so _cute_!? It wasn’t fair. “I…I really like you,” she stumbled over her words, far from how a confident courting should be? Was that endearing? Or weak? “It’s, uh. A crush. I have a crush on you, Luz the Human.”

Hey eyes darted down before she squeezed them shut all together. If she couldn’t see Luz, maybe she wouldn’t have to face the rejection, or worse, that was to come. Was “the Human” even her real last name? It sounded a little silly, now that she thought about it, Gods, if she doesn’t even know Luz’s last name why would the girl _ever_ like her back?

“You…you do?”

Luz’s voice sounded so _cheerful_ , so joyful, she couldn’t help but look up. There was a smile on her face, but it was different from any Amity had seen on the human before. It was a little nervous, a little hopeful, and her eyes were so full of passion, so deep. That was a good sign, right? She didn’t look mad or disgusted.

Amity’s brain warred within itself, debating all it had just seen. She couldn’t help the overwhelming sense of guilt she felt. She had overextended herself so much, made herself so tired, so vulnerable. This was irresponsible and unfair to Luz.

  
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have…ugh,” she groaned, softly punching the bench under her. “We don’t have to talk about it, Luz, I can get the memory tweezers and we can just both forget this, okay?”

“ _NO!_ ” Luz shouted, pouncing onto her. She held onto Amity’s hands with an intensity the witch had never seen in her—which was saying something. Luz was intense about _everything_. “I…you’re amazing, Amity, I—” she cut herself off, realization dawning on her face, “You…oh my God, you _do_ like me—you were gonna ask me to Grom!?” Luz shouted. They were all but conjoined, Amity pushed into the corner of the bench, Luz leaning above her, gripping her shoulders. Luz’s eyes gleamed like her enchanting little light spells and her leg bounced a mile a minute. The human leaned further onto her (she was so _warm_!), and Amity wanted to drown in this feeling.

She got her wish, as Luz tipped a just a bit too far, and fell on top of her. For what felt like the millionth time, they fell into pile of giggles. Amity didn’t even know she could laugh this much; even with Willow, she had never felt this light. Both girls cheeks were redder than a healing track student’s outfit and it was difficult to force her eyes to look anywhere but the human’s deep, beautiful brown eyes. 

It was impossible for the witch to even make a noise and she had at least some concern that she was about to pass out. This couldn’t be real, could it? It was too smooth, it was too _good_. She inhaled, shaking just a bit, “You’re, uh, really pretty, Luz.”

Luz snorted, climbing out of the pile they had made of themselves, “That settles it. Your name is Mittens now, Mittens,” she teased. She started poking Amity up and down her arm, doing her best to catch the squirming witch.

  
“I’m—” Amity giggled as Luz brushed against her ear. It was surprisingly ticklish, information that was new to both. Unfortunately, it seemed Luz had _really_ noticed that particular tidbit, as the pokes evolved into a tickle fight. Laughter rang through the halls of Hexside, until Amity gasped for air, and the tickling turned to quiet cuddling—although, Amity would never call it something as juvenile as that.

Eventually, the longer sunbeams interrupted cast longer shadows, giving the girls a reminder that they still remained in the real world, not some romantic fanfiction. It was far later than either had intended to stay at Hexside, but it was hard to care about any potential punishments from mentors or parents. Not when they could be together, talking about anything and everything.

Maybe Mittens wasn’t the worst thing her siblings had ever pranked her with. Not if, in some, roundabout way, it had given her this. As they finally separated, heading down the steps of Hexside (which, graciously, Luz had carried her down), Amity looked over her new mittens. The mix of emotions that just some fabric had thrown her into were remarkable, but then again, what wasn’t remarkable about anything related to Luz? She looked over the human again, and couldn’t help but smile.

This was going to be the start of something wonderful.


	5. feeling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guess what! i lied to all of you. i decided to make the epilogue basically a full chapter! please, enjoy!
> 
> i wanna thank you all so so so much for all the support this fic has gotten. it's been so encouraging reading all of y'all's reaction to each chapter of this and the number of kudos this has gotten is staggering. i hope you enjoy this epilogue! i'll leave some comments at the end, too.

Despite how it had begun, Amity was confident that today had been the best day of her life. Sure, she had almost broken her leg again, was suffering from magic exhaustion, and half the school likely knew her by Mittens now, but now she had a girlfriend! Luz! Luz was her girlfriend!

Or, well, she assumed. They hadn’t exactly discussed it with those words specifically. How did that work, anyways? If you both like each other like that, then why would you not be dating? Right? Those dramatic shows on the crystal balls (which were _totally_ beneath her, thank you very much) always made it seem like such a big deal, such a big word. Perhaps she could talk to Luz about it tomorrow; after all, the human had invited her to dinner.

That was going to be an interesting conversation. Eda, one of the most powerful witches on the Boiling Isles, was more-or-less Luz’s mom, or at least a guardian. She’d be fine with Amity—protégé of the head of the Emperor’s Coven—dating her kind-of-sort-of daughter, right? King was, hopefully, not still peeved about the whole Convention cupcake deal. And Hooty…well, Hooty could stay mad at her, for all she cared.

These were all problems for later, though. For now: happy! Yes, today was likely the happiest day of her life, and would probably be second to her and Luz’s wedding. Which she has _not_ thought about at all, nor sketched out, nor scrawled, “Amity The Human-Blight,” (which further reminded her that she _really_ needed to figure out if that was actually Luz’s name) in her diary.

It had been difficult getting up off that bench—partially because she was so exhausted, and partially because she wanted to spend every minute she could with wonderful, amazing, beautiful, kind, stubborn, passionate, loving, Luz. She had looked just _so_ pretty, and her shoulder was so comfortable, and the way the human’s eyes settled onto her, and—

Well, Amity could go on and on. Regardless, neither girl was very eager to stick around until nightfall and see all the dangers of the Isles up close and personal. Even leaving had been breathtaking, because of course it was, because Luz was so…so Luz. Amity had turned to leave, only to be interrupted by:

“Wait, Mittens!”

  
Turning around, she found herself already being embraced in a hug and the human _kissed her cheek oh my Titan oh my Titan oh my Titan oh my Titan_.

She had been vaguely aware of Luz pulling away, laughing a bit as the witch babbled what was likely absolute nonsense. Seriously, Luz may have singlehandedly transformed Mittens into something she _likes_. Of course, that would only inspire Edric and Emira to come up with a dumber, worse nickname, but still. That was how strong Luz was: she could undo years of her siblings idiocy. Amity doubted even the Emperor would have been capable of that.

The walk back had been largely uneventful. Or, it probably had been. Between reliving every moment on that bench and her overexertion-induced brain fog, her walk was largely a blur. For all she knew, maybe  Bonesborough had been wiped off the map.

At least in small act of mercy, Father and Mother had whisked off to some last-minute meeting with a potential investor. For now she wouldn’t have to deal with any interrogation from them on where she had been, or regarding any rumors that made their way to them. A plate of food—long since gone cold—sat on the kitchen table, small illusion letters floating above it. “ _For Mittens_ ,” it spelled out, a small heart floating alongside it.

She had to admit, it was sweet of the twins to leave food out for her. It looked like Edric’s cooking, too, who was a surprisingly good cook. Amity hummed as she grabbed the plate, placing it in the fire spirit’s container to heat it up. There was an extra spring in her step—or, hobble, given the crutch she still was stuck with—one that made her feel on top of the world. 

Taking down her ponytail, she placed the hairband around her arm as it transformed into a bracelet. It had been a gift from Em for her 8th birthday, and while she hardly ever took it off outside of sleeping, it was undeniably convenient. Carefully, she climbed up on the countertop, leaning against the wall and dangling her legs. It was definitely something that would get her in trouble if her parents saw, but they weren’t here and she was happy and wanted to sit down and think so _there_ , take that Father. Everything felt so fuzzy, so warm! It was all Amity could do to keep from just squealing with joy.

The fire spirit’s tell-tale chiming voice floated her way as it rose out of the container, placing the now warm plate in front of her. Briefly, Amity considered eating in the dining room, but the long table always felt so lonely even when all five Blights were present. Eating alone in there…it felt somewhat creepy, truthfully.

So she broke another one of Father’s commandments, taking her plate up to her room. It was hard to care about her parents’ stupid rules and stupid interfering ways when all she could think about was _Luz, Luz, Luz_. _Luz_ wouldn’t care about taking food to her room; she’d impulsively bounce her way upstairs. The witch placed her bookbag on her desk, the overfilled pack slumping over, before she took a seat at her desk. She should really stop carrying so many books with her, but between textbooks, whichever new story she was reading for fun, and whichever Azura book she and Luz were rereading, it was difficult to leave one at home. Oh Gods, Azura book club! Maybe they could act out some of that fanfiction Luz mentioned about ‘shipping.’ That would be fun!

Not realizing it, Amity finished her meal. Huh. Perhaps she should stop getting so lost in her thoughts…but what was the fun in that? It was nice, daydreaming about these things.

She stood up, flopping backwards onto her bed (or, well, best she could in a cast). For a moment, she simply stood at the ceiling with what was likely a very embarrassing lovestruck face. Finally, Amity couldn’t contain her joy and flipped upside down, squealing into her pillow. This was _amazing_. She could cuddle Luz, hug Luz, _KISS LUZ!!!_ This was what she had dreamed about! There was nothing that could bring her down from this high—nothing! She had conquered the name Mittens, she had conquered her feelings, and she was unstoppable!

“Heeeey Mittens, you in there?” Edric called out, poking his head into her room. Had she not closed the door? That was careless, especially in a house where her older siblings existed. Hopefully he hadn’t heard too much of her little emotional outburst. “I need back my eyeshadow I lent you for that little Grudgby gam—what are those?”

Instantly, her older brother was at her desk, grabbing something that spilled from her bag. What could he have possibly found that interes—

Oh no.

“Oh. My. Titan,” he said, enunciating each word. “Mittens. Is…are these mittens? From the human?” With each word her stupid brother grew more eager. “These are _adorable_! Perfect for our wittle old Mwittens!”

Amity groaned, but nodded. There was no point lying about these things when it came to Ed or Em. They always saw right through her. Besides, it was undeniable that a part of her wanted to tell _someone_ what happened, and Ed was a better choice than their parents. Amity actually _wanted_ to tell Edric something. That hadn’t happened in years.

“She—we…we _kissed_. Oh my Titan, we _actually_ kissed—this, this is _real_ , Edric! _I kissed Luz!_ ” she couldn’t contain herself; she was _beaming_ with joy. And maybe a bit of anxiety. Just a little bit, though! She sat up on her bed and grabbed the pillow, squeezing it close. “She _likes_ me!” Amity shouted.

It would likely be considered behavior that was, “unbecoming of a Blight, young lady,” as Father would say, but Amity couldn’t help the way this energy consumed her. Reflexively, she hugged the pillow tighter, rocking back and forth. It was impossible not to let some of this joy out, even around someone with such a track record of teasing her.

For his credit, Edric smiled at her, looking somewhat more genuine than his normal smiles. “Wow, Mittens, I didn’t know you had it in you!” he took a seat on the bed, ruffling her hair. It was a sweet moment, one of those times Amity felt lucky to have a brother like Ed.

Of course, he refused to let her sit on that familial connection for too long, returning to his typical smug smile. “Our Mittens has got moves, huh? I guess you owe it all to us, though,” he pondered, leaning backwards.

Amity pushed away his hand, smoothing down the mess he made of her hair. “What do you mean? You guys didn’t do anything. You just teased me at lunch.”

“Uh, we gave you the name Mittens, Mittens, duh! And I’m guessing that those—” he paused, gesturing at the gift on her desk, “—had something to do with this.” He paused again, again gesturing; this time, waving his hand at Amity herself. “You never could have done this without us. You should really thank us!” Edric shot up finger guns—it was a habit he picked up from Luz, and she was positive he was using them now to get to her. That being said, Amity was fairly certain he was using them the wrong way. 

“Shut up, moron,” Amity deadpanned, before shoved him off the bed. Perhaps it was true that her siblings had played _some_ role in this, but she’d never admit it.

The two witches bantered back and forth for a bit, before Amity threatened to summon an abomination and shove him out of her room. It was an empty threat, of course—she was far too drained to do anything of the sort. Still, he seemed to take the hint and ran off, likely to go tell Emira all about Amity’s exploits today.

The youngest Blight fell backwards once more, staring at the ceiling. Tomorrow was the weekend, thankfully, so she didn’t have to worry about trying to do any homework. Not that she’d be able to, far too busy thinking over what she’d wear to dinner tomorrow, whether one was supposed to bring a tribute to your (maybe?) girlfriend’s mentor, Luz’s smile, how comfortable she felt in her arms, and for that matter, how comfortable this bed was…

(Perhaps laying around in bed while suffering from magic exhaustion was not the best idea, she would discover, when she awoke around 3 AM, lights still on, fully dressed.)

•••

As it turns out, sleeping off a stressful day—in terms of both emotions and magic—has a funny way of eating through all of one’s morning. 

  
Amity had only begun to stir right after noon, her mouth dry and her body sore. On an ordinary weekend—or, at least on an ordinary day without her parents around—sleeping so late would have been a mild annoyance at worst, but with her kind-of-date with Luz only six hours away, the witch had spent most of the day preparing. Around half of those six hours had been dedicated to choosing the perfect outfit, finally settling on a simple black top with a light pink skirt.

But now, as she reached the edge of the clearing the Owl House lay in, it was time to face the actuality of hanging out with Luz. At the Owl House. And they both liked each other. _Like-Liked_. There was nothing scary about this! Or, there shouldn’t be.

Luckily/unluckily, the shrill owl tube had extended itself towards Amity before she managed to lose her nerve and run back home. “Oh, hoot, it’s _you_! Luz’s special laaaaaaaady friend,” he sang, rubbing against her arm. She flinched from the contact, her eye twitching. Was she going to have to teach him not to do that again?

“Would you leave the kid alone, Hooty?” The Owl Lady poked her head from the window, whacking the house demon with a broom. It looks like he lived another day. “Sheesh. You can’t take him anywhere. Any who—”

“OT!” Hooty chirped in, receiving another whack from the broom in response.

“Quiet, you. Any who, come on in, Blight! Come and see the magical world of crime,” she snorted as Amity drew closer, “you and your precious little outfit. Aw, you’re adorable, kid. Luz is way above her pay grade.”

The mint-haired girl flushed, looking away and gripping her crutch harder as the door swung open for her. The infamous Owl House was just as cluttered and unorganized as last time she had visited, yet it somehow managed to feel oddly ordered. There was a meaning to the madness of the house, she supposed. Still, there was a suspicious lack of the human she had come to see.

“Your date is upstairs, getting ready still. You’ve got a far better grasp on that whole ‘being on schedule’ thing than she does. Or me, for that matter.”

The Owl Lady—Eda? Edalyn? Ms. Owl? What was the proper way to refer to your hopefully future mentor-in-law?—walked towards the hallway, motioning for her to follow. Somehow, every square inch of the walls on the way to the kitchen seemed to be covered in some sort of trinket, knick-knack, or wanted poster. It was charming, homey in a way. The house had more spirit than Blight Manor. Literally, given that it was a demon.

As they entered the kitchen, Amity felt the nerves in her stomach kick into overtime. Was she supposed to make small talk? What…what did criminals talk about? Murder? Amity had never murdered anyone. She _did_ try to have Principal Bump dissect who was now her date, but to be fair, that had been a _very_ emotionally trying day for her for a number of reasons. She shuddered, remembering her parent’s reaction to losing her top student status—even momentarily—to Willow.

“Uh…kid? You…alright there?”

Eda looked down at her with a raised eyebrow, Amity once again betrayed by her never-ending tendency to overthink.

“Yes, ma’am,” she rushed out, bowing her head. “I apologize for ignoring you, Ms. Owl Lady. I won’t let it happen again.”

A loud laugh forced her to look back up and see the Isle’s most wanted criminal keeled over, wiping a tear from her eye. “Wow, kid. I don’t know what uptight nonsense your family or Lily has been feeding you, but just call me Eda.” Her boisterous laughter receded into small chuckling as she returned to stirring a cauldron. “Relax! I may not get what your deal is, but I don’t bite. If Luz trusts you, you’ve got a place here.”

That alone made Amity relax, tension releasing from her shoulders. Interacting with Eda was bizarre. She didn’t call for the unwavering respect nearly other adult in her life seemed to. Amity had no doubt that the infamous witch had her reservations about her, given how the youngest Blight had began with Luz, but she still welcomed her into her home; she trusted Luz to make decisions. It was difficult to ignore the pang of jealousy she felt as she pondered over that.

“Just don’t go setting any more memories on fire. I don’t wanna deal with delving into whatever human memories look like.”

Amity turned her head away, cringing at herself slightly. That seemed like a fair stipulation. “Thank you, Mis—Eda,” the witch said, her voice somewhat quiet as she slid onto the bench by the dining table, “I know that wasn’t a very good first impression of me.”

Without turning around, Eda waved her hand with a dismissive _pfft_. “Trust me, I’ve seen worse. King tried to eat me when we first met, the little rascal. Some fancy schmancy witch family’s kid being careless isn’t going to cost me any sleep. Besides, you took responsibility for it, even after I gave you a hard time. I can’t say I expected that of a Blight. Sheesh, your mom was scary at Hexside, and that’s _me_ talking.”

It was impossible for Amity to stifle a laugh at that. She had often wondered what Mother and Father had gotten up to when they were her age—but, as her father had told her, “good children don’t pry, Amity.”

“Mittens!”

Suddenly, Amity found herself wrapped in a side-hug by a certain excitable human, leaving a small peck on her cheeks. After getting over her initial shock, she melted into the embrace. Luz stared at her with so much affection, the witch was absolutely floored. She couldn’t stop the grin blooming on her face, even if she wanted to; not to mention how cute she was, which, dear Titan she was _so so so_ cute.

  
Luz had evidently decided on the most dorky outfit possible, donning her otter costume combined with an incredibly well made version of Azura’s hat, which Amity definitely wasn’t going to ask to wear later. It _should_ have looked like a disaster, but the witch couldn’t help the heat going to her twitching ears. There was something so endearing about the human’s willingness to dress so sickeningly sweet all the time, something that made her heart beat faster and her bile do loop-de-loops in her sac.

“You look adorable, Luz,” she spoke, attempting to still her ears. The human, however, squeezed her tighter, nuzzling against her neck, the hat falling behind her. Even still, the plush hood of the costume made the maneuver far fluffier than it should have been—not that Amity could complain. Her ears began moving any faster and hopefully she didn’t—

“Are you _purring_?” Luz exclaimed, pulling away just enough to look at the mint-haired girl. Her dark brown eyes sparkled and the grin she gave was wider than Amity knew possible. “I didn’t know witches purred! You are the cutest thing _ever_!” she dove back into the hug, squeezing the witch even tighter, before once again moving her head back, their eyes meeting, “and you liiiiike me, Mittens!” Luz giggled, stating the obvious.

Filing away the knowledge that humans don’t purr, Amity attempted to stumble out an explanation, which would be easier if her body would listen to her and _stop purring_. She was positive Eda was doing her best to conceal laughter, given how the older witch was coughing a suspicious amount.

All her failed attempts were interrupted by a blur hopping up on the table and loudly clearing his throat. The King of Demons stood tall (at least, as tall as he could), his arms crossed as he tapped his foot.

“You! Cupcake crusher,” he jabbed a finger dangerously close to her nose, “I demand an apology tribute, for you have angered the mighty King of ALL Demons!” he shouted, before turning to Luz and once again pointing, “And how could you betray me, your boo boo buddy! Wooing the enemy and handing her the crown of ‘most adorable.’ I will never forgive you, mortal! I will have my revenge!”

Tragically, Luz released the hug to pat King on his head, announcing each with a “pat, pat!” In response, King began slamming his fists on the table, squeaking with anger. Eda gave no change in her flat expression as she walked over, scooped up the small demon, and set him on a nearby stool.

“Let the lovebirds be, King. You can have your revenge later,” she turned, looking at Amity, “and if you’re staying over, kid, I’d lock the door. He’s got a nasty habit of trying to gnaw on newcomers to the house,” she laughed and headed back to her…whatever she was making, mumbling something about, _“young love is going to give me rashes”_

Dinner itself passed surprisingly peacefully! Truth be told, Amity expected far more chaos. Even the last time she had been over, after the grudgby game, had eventually devolved into a fight between King and Hooty. The longer they ate, the easier it became to slip into the rhythm of the conversation between all four—although, King still did seem uneasy about her. Unfortunate, but she’d find some way to make it up to him; if she made up Willow, she can make up with anyone. Eda, meanwhile, practically accepted the girl as her own, eliciting some complex feelings over parental figures that Amity did _not_ want to confront right now. She could see what Luz liked about studying under her. Despite how she portrayed herself, the Owl Lady was wise, witty, and kind. Dinner was lively and she could even call it fun! The laughter that echoed through the house demon and the mini-food fight between Luz and King were different, but nice! It was nothing like the interrogation with a meal she expected at home.

Then there was Luz. Wonderful, amazing Luz. The whole night, Amity hung onto every word her date said. It was impossible not to act like some smitten fool around her; she was so naturally charming, but in an entirely unique way, one that Amity had never seen anyone come close to matching. The way Luz’s radiant smile always wormed its way to her core, how she listened— _actually_ listened to her, unlike any of her other friends (excluding Willow, of course.) She felt so lucky to somehow have charmed Luz, with her round ears and all, as she leaned against her like this, casually, feeling how constantly _warm_ Luz was. It felt right.

Eventually, she realized, it was far too late for her to walk back to Blight Manor—a young witch walking through the woods of the Boiling Isles on crutches was more-or-less the perfect prey for wandering lycanthropes. Given the choice between taking up Eda’s offer and asking Ed and Em to trick Mother and Father with an illusion, or being dropped off personally by the Isle’s most notorious witch was a simple one. She could take the teasing from her siblings, but she wasn’t particularly eager to let her parents know about all this (not yet, anyways. That was a bridge to be crossed another day.)

That left her where she was now, on the floor of Luz’s room, both girls dressed in animal onesies. Luz had been quite persuasive that Amity should match with her—” _You don’t have any pajamas! And these costumes are suuuuper comfy!”_ —and handed her, what else, a yellow cat costume. It was silly and embarrassing, but the witch had to admit they were indeed ‘super comfy.’ Besides, she’d be lying if she said she didn’t enjoy joining Luz in whatever goofy adventures the human had planned.

After what was likely hours of discussing anything and everything—Azura, school, the human realm, the emperor’s coven, Lilith and Eda—they finally collapsed into a cuddle pile on the floor. Amity didn’t even try to mask her content purring or wiggling ears—something that Luz had, unfortunately, figured out the meaning of. This was everything she had dreamed of since Grom. Eventually, her thoughts began to slow, her breathing becoming more relaxed.

A groggy Luz spoke up, pulling Amity out of her half-asleep state. “Hey…Amity? Are you awake?”

With a sleepy _uh-huh_ , the human pulled in closer, leaving a kiss on her forehead. “I, uh, I’ve never really had anyone like you before,” she sniffled, her voice wavering. In an instant, Amity was alert. “I know I’ve talked about home before, but…I was _really_ lonely, back there, Amity. I dunno what I did to ‘woo’ you, like King said, but uhm…is it weird to say I love you? I kinda can’t stop thinking about you,” she suddenly shifted, panic in her voice, “Sorry. That was probably weird—you’re not really supposed to say that this soon? Yeah?”

Amity put one hand on each of the human’s cheeks, looking her dead in the eyes. “Luz, it’s—I love you, too,” she said, a real, genuine smile making its way on to her face. It seemed more and more that Luz was one of only a handful of people who could do that, “I…I don’t care if it’s too fast, Luz. It’s how we feel, right? The Luz I know doesn’t let stupid rules hold her back, miss first ever multi-track,” Amity stated, poking Luz’s nose before wrapping her in a hug. 

  
It was tragic, thinking Luz had never had someone like this in her human realm. The human was an eternal optimist, was friendly and kind nearly to a fault, and she was lonely back home? Luz had never talked about her friends…did she truly not have any? How could her realm be so cruel?

“Thanks, Mittens,” the human said, yawning, before clumsily flipping Amity around, cuddling up and wrapping her arms around the witch, “I’m so glad we met…” she mumbled, as her breathing slowed and she slipped into unconsciousness.

At least Amity’s answer seemed to put the human at ease. 

Slowly, the witch returned to her own thoughts. Amity was many things to many people: to Hexside, the top student, to her parents, the least talented Blight, yet the one who would have to carry their hope of a Blight in the Emperor’s Coven, to Lilith, a protégé, to Willow…well, that was complicated. But to Luz, she could be Amity. Not a Blight, but the girl passionate about Azura and books, the girl with more emotion than she knows what to do with, the girl who (secretly) followed grudgby religiously—and, perhaps most scarily, the girl who really wasn’t sure what _she_ —not her parents, not any coven—wanted to do. Luz accepted her for who she was; other people’s future expectations of her came second.

If that meant accepting ‘Mittens’ as a part of her—an Amity who was a little bit silly, a little bit childish, who _enjoyed_ animal onesies, reading books to kids, and acting out Azura—then she’d be Luz’s Mittens, gladly.

They drifted off to sleep, Luz holding Amity in her arms. And if King tried to chew her arm off, well, she was positive her fearless champion would keep her safe. Wrapped in the security of the girl she loved—and who also loved her—and a fluffy cat costume, nothing could go wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well! that's a wrap! i ended up basing a lot of this chapter--especially Luz's confession at the end--after my own adhd! i find that a lot of adhd people tend to fall hard and fast in relationships, so i thought it'd be cute.
> 
> i've got a few ideas for my next fic, and i'm not sure if i'll write some shorter one shots or jump straight into a few of the multi-chapter ideas i have. i might post a poll on my tumblr to decide which, or take suggestions/requests so please feel free to send me an anon or message!
> 
> again, i want to thank everyone SO much for all the support. i never for a moment expected this amount of kudos or comments, and i genuinely love reading each and everyone of what you leave in the comments! hope to see y'all again soon <3

**Author's Note:**

> if you wanna see more of my dumb thoughts, you can follow me at:
> 
> [my main tumblr](https://ellielol.tumblr.com/)  
> [my owl house tumblr](https://dirtwormcup.tumblr.com/)


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